MOST people would simply step aside when confronted by a young man riding a bicycle on the pavement.

After all, why risk a torrent of abuse – or much worse – by getting involved?

But for Andrew Young turning a blind eye to such a breach of the rules and a threat to public safety was out of the question.

An Asperger’s sufferer, he was a vulnerable man whose condition meant he saw the world differently to others – with fatal consequences.

Knowing the cyclist was in the wrong Andrew remonstrated with him and the latter’s friend, oblivious to the risk.

Horrific CCTV images of the incident in Bournemouth show that at one stage the row appears to have subsided but then Andrew is punched hard in the face by the friend.

The blow is so unexpected that the 40-year-old doesn’t appear to be looking at his assailant. Certainly Andrew does not have time to defend himself or put out his arms to cushion the fall as he is knocked off his feet and sent crashing on to the road. The back of his head hits the ground with sickening force.

Then his attacker saunters away with only the briefest of glances at his stricken victim.

Despite the prompt attention of passers-by and medics Andrew, who suffered terrible head injuries, died the following day with his mother Pamela, 71, at his hospital bedside.

For many reasons it is a case that has caused shock and outrage, not least because of the lenient four-and-a-half-year jail sentence imposed on the killer Lewis Gill, 20. It’s the latest in a series of deaths involving a single punch.

According to Pamela the term is “an absolute joke” and for Andrew’s bewildered family further hurt has been caused by Gill’s mother Sherron O’Hagan.

She reportedly described the attack as “no big deal” adding: “It was just an accident. This will all be forgotten tomorrow. He didn’t mean to kill him and that’s that. I just don’t understand what the fuss is about.”

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You can see that Andrew didn’t cause Lewis Gill any harm. The sentence is ridiculous.

Pamela Young - mother of the victim

There is a growing campaign, however, for Gill’s sentence for manslaughter to be increased. The Attorney General’s office has confirmed it is looking at the case and has asked for more information.

Andrew Young was a familiar figure in the Charminster area of Bournemouth where he was known to be slightly eccentric but utterly harmless. He was a naive and trusting man who was not street-wise.

Asperger syndrome is a form of autism that affects how people make sense of the world, process information and relate to others. Sufferers often miss signals that most of us take for granted and can become agitated if their routines are disrupted.

Andrew was said to be highly intelligent and spoke several languages including Arabic and Russian but had the social skills of a 14-year-old.

After leaving Bournemouth School for Boys he began a degree in psychiatric nursing at Oxford Brookes University but struggled to adapt to life away from home and did not finish the course.

Back in Bournemouth he worked for Barclays Bank but then flitted between jobs. At various times he was a cashier at a garage and worked on supermarket tills, although at the time of his death he was not employed.

Andrew Young has been described as someone who would not hurt a fly [BNPS]

Andrew, who has a brother Peter, was obsessed with computers and seems to have spent much of his time in internet cafes or just passing the time of day with anyone who was willing to chat.

Taxi driver Simon Scott, who had known Andrew for six years, says: “He was always friendly and polite and often struck up conversations with strangers at the bus stop near the taxi rank. Andrew was gentle and wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

A former sea cadet, Andrew was also a member of the congregation at St Edmund Campion, a Catholic church where he regularly attended Mass.

He was a customer at the Richmond Arms pub in Charminster, where he had a set daily routine. According to Ryan Foy, a barman who befriended Andrew, he was coming to terms with the recent death of his father Derek.

“He came in almost every day between 12pm and 3pm and always ordered two pints of Stella which he paid for by card. He would never have more than two drinks.

“He carried a handheld radio around with him that he used to listen to the news. His old man passed away last summer so I think he was a bit lonely and wanted company.”

Pamela Young was at her son's bedside in hospital when he died [BNPS]

Andrew lived near the pub in a council flat but was also known to have stayed at a shelter for the homeless. He wasn’t far from his home when he was attacked outside a supermarket on the afternoon of November 6 last year. At the time the street was crowded with shoppers.

His mother, who praised the efforts by bystanders to save her son, says: “Because of his Asperger’s he was very particular and it would have upset him to see someone riding a bicycle on the pavement. I sat with him in hospital when he died and I was in court when the CCTV video was played. It was horrible and I will never forget what I watched.”

Gill, who was walking beside the cyclist when the dispute began, claimed that Andrew made a racist comment and that he believed a knife or gun was about to be pulled.

But Pamela, who was heard to gasp in court as she watched the blow land, says: “You can see that Andrew didn’t cause Lewis Gill any harm.

“The sentence is ridiculous. Gill didn’t mean to kill Andrew so a life sentence would have been extreme but he deserved more.

“Andrew was a clever, quiet, polite and sensitive boy. We had a loving relationship. I miss him dreadfully.”

Legal experts say attacker Gill could be free in two years [ENTERPRISE NEWS AND PICTURES]

Legal experts say Gill, from Sutton, Surrey, who was sentenced at Salisbury Crown Court, could be free in two years. He was also sentenced to two three-month prison terms to run consecutively after committing the crime while on a suspended sentence for robbery and for handling stolen goods.

Jailing Gill, Judge Keith Cutler, who is now under fire for the apparently lenient term, said Andrew did not represent a threat.

He told Gill: “You are a powerfully built young man. You must have known that it was going to cause a significant injury and very sadly it did.”

At the time of the attack it’s thought that Gill, of no fixed abode, was visiting friends who are studying in Bournemouth.

Images of the attack have been shown round the world and the case has highlighted the risk of random, unprovoked violence.

UK police forces are running a campaign called One Punch Can Kill to draw attention to the dangers of lashing out. Throughout the country there have been numerous deaths, usually caused not by the blow but head injuries suffered in the subsequent fall.

There are also calls for a new law which would mean longer sentences for anyone convicted of this type of killing. In New South Wales, Australia, there’s a minimum eight-year term for fatal one-punch assaults.

A jail sentence can’t compensate for a life but at least mothers like Pamela Young would have a greater sense of justice.

A DEADLY PATTERN OF CRIME

A series of single-punch killings is driving a campaign for tougher sentences for those who hit out without considering the consequences.

Royal Marine Commando Wesley Clutterbuck, 19, was killed by a single punch during a night out in Rochdale, Lancashire, in June last year.

His killer Reece Kay, 20, who joked about hurting his hand after the punch, was jailed for four years.

Also last year Steffan Linnett, 19, was jailed for three years after knocking “amiable drunk” Simon Close to the ground with a punch. The 40-year-old homeless man had tried to join in with a game of street football.

Former council leader John Morrison, 50, died in 2012 after being struck once on a night out in Glasgow. The attack, by Darren Murphy, 25, said to be unprovoked, resulted in a five-year sentence.

In December 2009, 19-year-old Andrew Gibson, a soldier, died six days after being punched in Escapades nightclub in Darlington. John Flannigan, 17, was sentenced to just two-and-a-half years for the manslaughter.

Over the past 13 years there have been four deaths in Bournemouth alone following single-punch assaults.

Opponents of longer jail terms claim attackers should not get stiffer punishments if there is no intent to cause serious injury, while judges say their hands are tied by sentencing rules.